Giovanni
Giovanni is a recurring antagonist from the Pokémon franchise, and the leader of the criminal organization Team Rocket, as well as its later successors Team Rainbow Rocket and Team Go Rocket. He is also the father of Silver, whom he abandoned. Giovanni has carefully maintained a public persona to hide his true criminal affiliations, allowing him to serve as a member of the Pokémon League as one of the eight Kanto Region Gym Leaders, running the Ground and Normal type gym in Viridian City. His primary Pokémon partner is his Persian, which he often keeps close by even when he is not battling. He is often depicted using Mewtwo as an ace, and is often erroneously credited for the artificial Pokémon's creation. History Pokémon Generation I Giovanni was once a powerful Ground type Pokémon trainer of great prominence in the Kanto Region, leading to his joining the Pokémon League as one of the eight certified Gym Leaders of the region. Taking control of the final Gym in Viridian City, Giovanni positioned himself as the last major hurdle between promising young trainers and their ability to walk the Victory Road and challenge the Elite Four. During this time period, Giovanni's training and practice lead to him crafting the Fissure technique- a powerful Ground move that allows a strong Pokémon to split the earth and potentially defeat their foe in a single strike. At some point, however, Giovanni began plotting for more and more power, and turned to criminal enterprises to sate his ambition- founding Team Rocket, an organization dedicated to using Pokémon as tools to further their agendas, all while using his public facing position to cloak his true affiliations. Giovanni encounters Red for the first time when the trainer arrives in Celadon City, making their way into the secret Team Rocket underground base hidden beneath the Celadon Game Center. Realizing that the building is housing a major headquarters for the criminal organization, Red decided to clear it out- traveling across several floors of Rocket Grunts, Scientists and Trainers- before reaching Giovanni's office, to battle the boss personally. Giovanni, seeing that Red is only a child, underestimates Red and only utilizes his Onix, Rhyhorn and Kangaskhan (Persian, in Yellow version) in the battle, resulting in a sound defeat at the hand's of Red's team. Out of difference to the skill Red had demonstrated, Giovanni decides to step aside and abandon the Celadon hideout, leaving behind an experimental Silph Scope, but dismisses the possibility that a child as young and naïve as Red could understand his plans or dreams. After leaving Celadon behind, Giovanni moves forward on his plans against the Silph Corporation, a major economic and scientific power in the Kanto region headquartered in Saffron City, and who had been working on the design for a new PokeBall, the Master Ball, capable of catching any Pokémon regardless of its power, with a 100% success rate. Flooding the city with troops, Team Rocket agents seal off every major business and shut down every route in and out of the city. With Saffron City cut off from the outside and under lockdown, Giovanni and his men lead a direct assault on the Silph Headquarters, occupying the building floor by floor. Once again, Red found himself wandering into Giovanni's plans when he is able to work his way into the city with the intentions of challenging its Gym Leader, Sabrina for his next Gym Badge. With the gym locked down due to the occupation, Red takes it into his own hands to fight through the Rocket forces occupying the Silph Building, fighting all the way up to the boardroom, crossing paths with Giovanni once again. During the second battle with Red, Giovanni utilized his Nidorino, Kangaskhan (Persian in Yellow version), Rhyhorn and finally his Nidoqueen- but was once again defeated, forcing Team Rocket to flee Saffron and keeping the Master Ball out of his hands. Now defeated twice, Giovanni returned to the gym in Viridian City to recenter himself, and begin rebuilding Rocket's base of power from his own; but was once again challenged by Red- this time in order for the young trainer to claim his eighth and final Gym Badge from the Viridian Gym. Vowing to battle Red with nothing held back this time- Giovanni sent out his highest leveled and best trained Pokémon; Rhyhorn (Persian in Yellow version), Dugtrio, Nidoqueen, Nidoking and Rhydon. Once again, Giovanni is defeated by Red- earning the EarthBadge and the ability to challenge the Pokémon League. With no other excuses or back-up plans to fall back on, Giovanni could only respect Red's skill, granting him a TM to learn the Fissure technique, and vowed to dismantle Team Rocket and dedicate his life to the study of Pokémon and his personal training, abandoning the gym and his criminal organization. Pokémon Generation II Three years after his defeat, Giovanni remained true to his parting words with Red and had not been seen since leaving for his training in isolation in a secret cave at Tohjo Falls. Despite his decision to disband Team Rocket, a number of Team Rocket remnant factions remained, and would eventually find themselves under the interim leadership of Archer in the Johto Region. Believing that their true leader would still rejoin them, the new Team Rocket launched an attack on the radio tower in Goldenrod City, flooding the airwaves with messages telling Giovanni of the team's revival and begging for his return. When Ethan or Lyra journey from Johto to Kanto, and come across Giovanni's cave, they discover it abandoned with a broken radio inside- implying that Giovanni had heard the message from the new Rocket, and deliberately did not answer. Bringing the mythical time-warping Pokémon Celebi to the cave reveals the full story, however; in actuality, Giovanni received the new Team Rocket's message and found his drive renewed- planning to take off at once for Johto to meet his team in Goldenrod. Due to the time manipulating abilities of Celebi, Ethan and Lyra are briefly transported back to that exact moment, to Giovanni's shock and confusion. Seeing the same fire in the young Johto trainer's eyes as he saw in Red's three years prior, Giovanni realized that they were not going to let him leave without a fight, and challenged them to a Pokémon battle. Utilizing his old partners, Nindoking, Nindoqueen and Kangaskhan, as well as a new addition to the team- Honchkrow. Despite years of intensive training and focus, Giovanni's new team is still not powerful enough to match his ambitions, and he is defeated by Ethan and Lyra. Crushed that a child could once again so completely stand in the way of his dreams, Giovanni decided that his plans of conquest could only be an illusion, and once again walked away from his plans. While Giovanni does not resurface for the remainder of Ethan and Lyra's adventures, they glimpse his past through Celebi's distortions one final time on Route 22, on the way to Victory Road. After his defeat at the hands of Red, and before beginning his training in Tohjo Falls, Giovanni travels to Route 22 where he abandons his young son, Silver- causing the child to develop a deep hatred for Team Rocket, and for the weakness and callousness of his father, leading him down the path that will eventually take him to Johto and his rivalry with Ethan and Lyra. Pokémon Generation V Giovanni makes a brief resurface in Unova Region, when the Pokémon World Tournament is opened up in Driftveil City, and he joins in the competition. While most of the gym leaders are introduced under a title, the Tournament Announcer only introduces Giovanni under the phrase "The Self-Proclaimed Strongest Trainer". His team can vary based on the entry specifications of a given round, and will be comprised of some combination of Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Golem, Marowak, Sandslash, Rhyperior, Garchomp, Gliscor, Hippowdon and Krookodile. Ultimately, Giovanni's new team is unable to overcome Rosa or Nate, and he is once again defeated. Appearances * Pokémon Red and Blue Versions (1995) * Pokémon Yellow Version (1999) * Pokémon Stadium (2000) * Pokémon Puzzle League (2000) * Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR! (2001) * Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Versions (2004) * Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions (2010) * Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 Versions (2012) * Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (2017) * Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee (2018) * Pokémon Masters (2019) * Pokémon Go (2016, added post release in 2019) Category:Characters Category:Bosses Category:Villains